Parshat Chayei Sarah: Love Story

 

If I were to ask you to provide a definition of the Torah, how would you describe it?

You could say that, on a superficial level, it was a history book.  Perhaps you might think of it as a guide to Jewish law and ritual.  A third idea might point to it being a manual of morality (or the lack of it, as described so vividly in last week’s Parsha when focussing on the men of Sodom).  But could you ever consider it to have elements of being a love story?

I’m not necessarily referring to the relationship between our nation and Gd, although there is a deep bond that runs throughout the five books, even if it is sometimes difficult to comprehend why some events took place and whether these could be considered as pertaining to the kind of loving interaction that we can readily understand.

But, looking at this week’s Parsha, I can come to no other conclusion other than its key ingredients can be summarised in one single word:

Love.

Chayei Sarah, literally ‘the life of Sarah’ is a Parsha that is unique in the Torah.

Its structure is bookended by the deaths and burials of our first Matriarch and Patriarch, Sarah and Avraham/Abraham respectively.  Its middle section is a tender and moving description of a dedicated servant’s journey to find a wife for his master’s son.  These elements blend to detail the loving relationships between human beings.

When Rivka/Rebecca is introduced to Yitzchak/Isaac, we are told that she became his wife and that not only did he love her, but she also comforted him after the sudden death of his mother.  This is indeed true love.

Our Parsha takes us on a journey through life, and the love that accompanies it, from youth to old age.  Mills and Boon eat your heart out!

When I think of couples whose love grew throughout their married life, my memories turn to my own parents.

They should have celebrated their 60^th wedding anniversary on 29^th October, had my mother not passed away earlier this year.  Like Yitzchak and Rivka, theirs was an initial relationship that was separated by long distances.  In their case, my father is Yitzchak and my mother was Rosette (although her mother’s middle name was Rivka as is that of my youngest daughter, Shira).

Antwerp to New York may be further in distance than Be’er Lachai Roi to Aram Naharayim but in both cases two individuals came together and created a new life together.

It wasn’t easy.  My mother’s father was in ill-health and my father’s mother had also been very unwell.  The war had taken its toll on both in different ways and their children, who became refugees in childhood, bore the scars of the war that had ended only 15 years before their initial meeting in 1960.

They were married at the Machzike Adath shul in the Ooestenstraat in Antwerp by Rabbi Kreiswirth, the renowned Chief Rabbi of the community, and they promptly set about arranging to travel to New York to settle in Manhatten near my paternal grandparents.  My mother, raised in the close-knit community of Antwerp didn’t feel at home in the gigantic sprawl that is New York City and after two years, convinced my father to leave and settle in Golders Green in order to be near to my uncle and other members of our family.

So, in 1963, my prenatal roots were established in the United Kingdom.

Life was not easy for my parents at first, but their friendship and growing love kept them together through some very trying times.  Their journey from Antwerp, through New York to London, as the archetypal wandering Jews brought its challenges but at the same time, many rewards, not least a wonderful circle of close friends.  And in their golden years, before Covid struck, they lived a highly fulfilling life in their second home on Limes Avenue, otherwise known as the ‘Sobell Centre’.

My mother’s life was bookended by the outset of war when she was three and Covid when she was in her early 80s.  She refused to let it defeat her and would have done anything to be able to reach their special anniversary, but it was not to be.  My father, in his own special way, continued the journey they had started together and now resides in the home adjacent to the centre.  It is as though he is now ending their journey, albeit on his own.

Life leads us in strange and unpredictable ways, and we don’t know how long it will take for us to reach our destination.  The story of Avraham and Sarah, Yitzchak and Rivka in this week’s Parsha lets us know that, even with the passing of a loved person like Sarah, life has to go on.

Rashi tells us that during Sarah’s lifetime, a light burned in their tent from one Shabbat to the next; the dough she made was blessed and a cloud hung over the tent.  All three disappeared when she died and all three reappeared when Rivka entered the same tent.  Love can ignite even the most extinguished traces of human relationships.

You may similarly notice that in the Hebrew in Verse 2 of Chapter 23, the ‘kaf’ in the word ‘velivkotah’ – and Avraham wept for Sarah is small.  This is the same in the Torah.  Avraham wept privately for his life’s partner, who had been there by his side through so much, but he knew that there had to be a limit to his mourning.  In sending his servant, Eliezer, to seek a wife for their son, he was indicating that life had to carry on, despite everything.  It is a message that has not been lost on me in the last six months.  For I too, am continuing, as is my father.

Although we may not be able to celebrate my parent’s Diamond Anniversary, this doesn’t mean that we can’t remember and value their partnership together.  Through thick and thin theirs, like our Patriarchs and Matriarchs, was indeed a love story and my very being is its witness.

So, after all, The Torah is a book of love and it is in this spirit that although they may no longer be physically together, the anniversary of their marriage is something to cherish and remember.

Shabbat Shalom.

Parshat Lech Lecha: Who is G-d?

 Faith is not certainty.  Faith is the courage to live with uncertainty.  (Rabbi Sacks ztl)

A few weeks ago, it was a lovely balmy afternoon and we were having a family lunch in our Sukkah.  I was explaining to Olivia, who has just turned four and Alexander, who will be two next month, that the reason we sit in the Sukkah is to remind us of the booths that Gd told us to inhabit when our ancestors were wandering around the desert.

She turned to me and asked: "Daud, who is Gd?"

I looked worriedly at Grandma Stephnie, hoping to elicit a suitable response, but she stared back, also not quite knowing what to say.  We both paused, took a breath and we both tried to give an explanation about what Gd is and what he does, but to be honest, nobody was any wiser at the end of our respective explanations.  She hadn't asked the 'what' question - that would have been easier - she'd asked the 'who' one!

What struck us about the question, which not only demonstrates how uber-smart she is (and we already know that), was about how difficult it was to answer.  After all, who is Gd?

Olivia, bless her, is not the first person to ponder as to the identity of the Almighty.  Her question goes way back to another child of a similar age who lived along the banks of the Tigris three millennia ago.

Fragments of a Midrash, Kitei Bereshit Rabbah, that was found in the Cairo Geniza tells us that when Avram Avinu was born, a star rose in the east and swallowed four stars in the four corners of heaven.  The evil King Nimrod was told by his wizards that Terach was the father to a son from whom a people would emerge, that would inherit this world and the world to come.  Nimrod wanted Terach to hand over the boy to him so that he could be killed.  Terach responded by hiding Avram in a cave for three years.

"When Avram was three years old, he left the cave and observing the world, wondered in his heart: ‘who had created heaven and earth and me’?  All that day, he prayed to the sun.  In the evening, the sun set in the west and the moon rose in the east.  Upon seeing the moon and the stars around it, he said, “This one must have created heaven and earth and me - these stars must be the moon's princes and courtiers.”  So, all night long he stood in prayer to the moon.  In the morning, the moon sank in the west and the sun rose in the east.  Then he said, “There is no might in either of these.  There must be a higher Lord over them - to Him I will pray, and before Him I will prostrate myself.”

(Quoted from "The Book of Legends: Sefer Ha-Agaddah: Legends from the Talmud and Midrash edited by Hayim Nachman Bialik and Yehoshua Hana Ravnitzky - 1992 edition, Shocken Books Inc.)

I have heard this story quoted to me in different iterations since I was a child and although it presents an answer to the question of 'Who is master of the Universe?', does it really try to explain ‘who’ Gd is…and can a child of three really figure that out, even someone as brilliant as Avram undoubtably was?

The Rambam/Maimonides is similarly sceptical and presents a different viewpoint in the Mishneh Torah's Laws of Idolatry:

Mishneh Torah, Foreign Worship and Customs of the Nations 1:3

As soon as this giant was weaned, he commenced to busy his mind, in his infancy he commenced to think by day and by night, and would encounter this enigma: How is it possible that this planet should continuously be in motion and have no leader—and who, indeed, causes it to revolve, it being impossible that it should revolve [by] itself?  Moreover, he neither had a teacher nor one to impart thought to him, for he was sunk in Ur of the Chaldeans among the foolish worshippers of stars, and his father, and his mother, like all the people, worshipped stars, and he, although following them in their worship, busies his heart and reflects until he attains the path of truth, and, by his correct thinking, he understood when he finally saw the line of righteousness.

He knew that there is One God; He leads the planet; He created everything; and in all that is there is no god save He.  He knew that the whole world was in error, and that the thing which caused them to err was, that their worshipping the stars and the images brought about the loss of the truth from their consciousness.  And, when Abraham was forty years old, he recognized his Creator.

After he came to this comprehension and knowledge, he started to confute the sons of Ur of the Chaldeans, and to organize disputations with them, cautioning them, saying: “This is not the true path that you are following”, and he destroyed the images, and commenced preaching to the people warning them that it is not right to worship any save the God of the universe, and unto Him alone it is right to bow down, to offer sacrifices, and compound offerings, so that the creatures of the future shall recognize Him.

The Rambam's sensible approach to this quandary seems valid.  He recognises that Avram started his journey at the tender age of three and spent the next four decades formulating his ideas and following different paths of belief, including idol worship, until he reached the age when the answer to his quest made sense.  In trying to understand who Gd was, he himself had to appreciate who he was.  It was in facing life's challenges that he was able to recognise his own place in society and in doing so, where he could fit within Gd's universe.

A few weeks ago, we read how Gd consulted with the angels to create Adam and proceeded to do so 'in His own image'.

Genesis 1:27 And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

בראשית א׳:כ״ז וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱלֹקִ֤ים ׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹקִ֖ים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם׃

 

I don't think Olivia would understand the answer to her question right now and perhaps, she may need many years to work it out herself but perhaps, if we learn to know who ‘we’ are, we will have a better understanding of who ‘Gd’ is.  We have Godliness in ourselves if we choose to follow His example.  The kindness he bestowed on us by creating the world, populating it with beautiful vistas, extraordinary wild-life and ultimately His role in our own formation is simply remarkable.

We have, should we wish to exercise it, the power to change others' lives and this points to our role in emulating Gd.  By being the best people we can aspire to be, we become closer to Him and understand Him as best as we can.  That is not to say that we can hope to comprehend why He does the things He does because that is clearly beyond our limited intellect.  But even if we listen to our conscience and do the best that we can, we can perhaps receive a glimpse of Who Gd is.

And this brings us closer to understanding Rabbi Sacks' insight.

Faith - our belief in a Higher Being is not a proof of the certainty that this being exists.  It is, however, our acceptance that, even though we can only attempt to understand who He is, what He does and why He does it, we still need the courage to hold onto that belief, through the vicissitudes of life.  Both in the highest personal peaks that we conquer and into the deepest troughs that we sometimes find ourselves.  If we want to understand who Gd is, a good place to start is by having the desire to try to find out by looking deep within ourselves and asking who we are.  Little Olivia asked a superb question.  I hope that I have gone some way to trying to answer it.  Perhaps she will discover the answer herself one day and explain it to her three-year-old granddaughter when the question comes up again in the future.

As our late and much-lamented leader wrote:

Faith is not certainty.  Faith is the courage to live with uncertainty

Bonne Courage Olivia!

Shabbat Shalom.

Parshat Noach: Water Water Everywhere...

 Who was the first businessman in the Bible?

Noah.  He floated the company when the world went into liquidation!

 

What kind of lighting did Noah have in the ark?

Floodlighting!

These jokes typify the fondness that we have towards the story of the flood and Noah's rescue via his ark.  Ask a child to tell you a Biblical story and I would guess that you'll probably hear the same tale and how the animals went in 'two by two' (except if they were kosher and then it was 'seven by seven' but let's put that to one side).  Fisher Price even sells a 'Noah's Ark' toy ('Little People Noah's Ark with Bonus Animals')!

The motif of someone saving others has been repeated time and time again, most notably in recent times with the novel "The Zookeeper's Wife" and its subsequent film adaptation.  It is story that truly captures our imaginations again and again and again. 

But have you ever stopped to ask yourself the question as to why Gd might have chosen the ingredient that we cannot survive without as the tool to destroy humanity?  Wouldn't a few earthquakes, volcanoes or a meteorite have achieved the same result?  If He could save Noah through the use of a boat, surely, there may have been another way to rescue him in the event of such natural disasters? 

Why through water and why did He ask Noah to build the ark before telling him that He would destroy the world through a flood?

I will return to the first question shortly.

The second question brings us back to our original quandary, why use water?

The Keli Yakar (Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz d. 1619) a renowned Torah commentator who was also the Chief Rabbi of Prague suggests some fascinating reasons that Gd may have chosen our beloved H₂O to wipe out almost all of humanity.  Their common theme focuses on the erosion of boundaries.

Before the Torah was given and the Sanhedrin was able to enact its penalties, the punishment for the serious sins that corrupted the fabric of society was strangulation.  Gd's Divine Justice in punishing the perpetrators was through a type of strangulation, namely drowning.

The three crimes that brought about such a punishment were:

1)    Relations with a married woman

2)    Theft and deception

3)    Idol Worship (Avodah Zarah)

In the first case, the boundaries of what constituted a family were eroded.  To the point that not only did such an act destroy the sanctity of marriage, but any children borne from an illicit relationship may not have been aware of their patrilineal lineage.

In the second, theft destroys the boundaries of a person's belief in living in a secure environment where there is no trust, there is nary a steady relationship.  Anyone who has been burgled will understand the trauma it entails and the feelings one has of an invasion of privacy.

Thirdly, idol worship destroys the relationship that a human being has with the Almighty.  It is as though the boundary that encircles this special interaction has been erased, removing a person's ability to focus on the idea of the Single Gd.

The Dor Hamabul, the immoral generation of the flood, were guilty of all three acts and, as result, according to the Keli Yakar, they were punished by Gd's version of strangulation.  Just as they erased the boundaries that maintain a strong, moral society, so too did Gd punish them midah keneged midah - measure by measure. 

Water knows no boundaries, as witnessed by the impact it has had on our lives in recent years.  Who has not recoiled in horror at the scenes we witness of flooding, even if this is not on a biblical scale.

Which brings us back to the question as to why Gd told Noah to build the ark in the first place.

Rashi informs us that this was the case because He knew that it would take Noah a very long time to accomplish this and so, in the process, he might be able to convince his mocking spectators to repent before the inevitable deluge would be upon them.  That it took 120 years underscores Gd's desire to delay executing His plan.

In His Divine mercy, despite their actions, Gd gave this generation every chance to avoid a watery grave.  It is a salutary lesson to us that sometimes, although people may behave in a manner that we find abhorrent, no-one is precluded from the opportunity to change their ways and aim to reach a higher moral plane (albeit in a far less serious manner than the behaviour exhibited by the Dor Hamabul).  Sometimes, we need to take a step back and wait for that change to happen before condemning a person. 

This is not always easy to do, but in giving them time, we also help ourselves understand that change happens gradually and if Gd can wait the 120 years it took for Noah to build his ark, we can give a fellow human being at least the same amount of time in days or even months to prove themselves. 

Although this aspect may not be as famous as that wooden boat, it is a salutary lesson for us all to learn

Shabbat Shalom

https://www.fisher-price.com/en-us/product/little-people-noahs-ark-bmm06#:~:text=Noah%20built%20himself%20a%20floating%20zoo%20with%20lots,of%20the%20Ark%20easily%20removes%20for%20play%20inside.

 

Parshat Bereshit: Back to Our Roots

 

This is dedicated to our friend Galen – Gavriel Mordechai ben Pesach Chaim zl

The dismantled Sukkah has been stored away in the shed (or will be - as soon as it stops raining!)

The drama of the 'Days of Awe' is fading into the distance and even the Simchat Torah dancing has taken on the status of the 'Last Hurrah' of a month of festivals.

Soon the days will be drawing in and it will seem as though the brightness of the long summer will be perfectly mirrored by the darkness of an interminable winter.

Even our Torah reflects this change of mood.

A few days ago, we read about the last day of Moses' life and how he blessed the Nation of Israel as they prepared to enter the Promised Land.  One can only imagine the unbelievable sight of the throng of millions of men, women and children encamped on the banks of the Jordan River.

And here we are, less than a week later, rewinding the timeline by nearly three thousand years to the time when there wasn't a single human being alive.

In fact, there was nothing.

The tumult of the former, eclipsed by the silence of the latter.

 

Genesis 1:1-2

"In the beginning of Gd's creating the heavens the earth, when the earth was astonishingly empty, with darkness upon the face of the deep, and the Divine Presence hovered upon the surface of the waters"

Until...

Genesis 1:3

God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

By the end of 1970, two of the world's most famous partnerships had reached their apex.

In the UK, The Beatles were unmatched by any other group in terms of the quality of their musicianship, influence and impact on society.  The rapturous acclaim garnered by the release the Abbey Road album in the midst of the previous summer may have been somewhat tarnished by the disappointment engendered through the flawed Let it Be project. Paul McCartney's decision to leave the group was greeted by a sense of shock and deep distress by their millions of fans. 

And similarly so, across the Atlantic Ocean, where Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, riding high on the tails of their greatest hit record ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ decided, albeit less publicly, to part their ways.  This was going to be a 'Hazy Shade of Winter' for many, many people.

Both Pauls were very keen to mark their newly found independence by releasing their first solo records eponymously.  'McCartney' and 'Paul Simon' were very different musical offerings to those delivered under their previous incarnations.  Almost pared to the bone, the former was a rustic, mostly acoustic affair produced in-house at a studio on his Scottish farm.  The latter, although co-produced with Roy Halee (the same man who had been responsible for Simon and Garfunkel's output) was much more folksy though similarly quieter in tone than its illustrious predecessor.  Compare the production of songs like 'The Boxer' and 'Keep the Customer Satisfied' with 'Armistice Day' and 'Peace Like a River' and you will know what I mean.  In interviews over the years, both men explained how they had deliberately moved away from the sophisticated production that can be heard on 'Sgt.  Pepper' or 'Bookends' respectively.  Both Pauls were deliberately returning to their roots and starting again on a new path in their musical journeys.  It would take a while until they felt confident enough to reach the point where they could release classics like 'Band on The Run' or 'Graceland'.

One of the most famous Rashi commentaries can be found in the first verse of today's Parsha.  He asks why the Torah started with a description of the Creation.  Surely, it would have made more sense to begin with the first commandment given to the nascent Israelites:

"This month shall be unto you the first of the months” (Exodus 12.2)

He answers that the reason it doesn't do this, is so that Gd could give an account of the work of [His] Creation), in order that He might give them the heritage of the nations.  For should the peoples of the world say to Israel, “You are robbers, because you took by force the lands of the seven nations of Canaan”, Israel may reply to them, “All the earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it and gave it to whom He pleased.  When He willed, He gave it to them, and when He willed, He took it from them and gave it to us”

Gd describes the Creation in our Divine Book because every story has to have a beginning and an explanation of its purpose.  No-one can achieve greatness by releasing masterpieces like 'Abbey Road' or 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' as their initial album.  You have to build up to a crescendo by starting small. 

He describes the process of creating a world that didn't exist and which came into existence bit by bit, from darkness to light, from endless waters to skies and seas; from the formation of one single human being to his female soulmate, to their eventual descendants on the cusp of entering the Land of Canaan.

After the lavish productions that constituted Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Shmini Atzeret / Simchat Torah, we need the opportunity to return to our roots.  To remind ourselves of how it all began and of how we too came into being.  Before we were rabbis and accountants, lawyers and schoolteachers, estate agents and bankers, plumbers and electricians, farmers and even Prime Ministers, we were also seeds waiting to grow.  In our beginnings, we also lived in darkness and did so until we experienced the light of the world outside the womb.

Bereishit teaches us that we don't have to be world-class musicians to remind ourselves that once a year, it does us a great deal of good to find pleasure in the simple gifts of life.  As the 14th century quote states, 'Mighty oaks - from little acorns grow' and returning to our roots is the surest way to plant the metaphorical seeds that we hope will bring us a successful new year.

Enjoy your journey through 5782!

Shabbat Shalom.

 

 

Parshat Ki Tavo: Sticks and Stones

 

Lovingly dedicated to the memory of our friend, mother & grandmother

Sherril - Sarah bat Chaim Eliezer, aleha hashalom

 

When I was growing up my knowledge of our collective history consisted of the Bible stories I had learned in school through studying the Torah.  When I write 'Bible', as far as I was concerned, this only consisted of the Torah as we didn't look much at the other two books of the Old Testament.  Yes, I knew about David and Goliath and of course was aware of other historical events connected to our calendar, such as the Books of Ruth and Esther and the destruction of the Temples, but to be truthful, the many books that were included in Neviim (Prophets) and Ketuvim (writings) were a mystery to me. 

 

I understand why Jewish schools don't (or in my case, didn't) teach Tenach.  Many of the episodes are distinctly unsuitable for a young audience.  You can therefore imagine my surprise as I slowly delved into these tomes and expanded my knowledge.  Moses died in the very last chapter of the Torah, but that didn't mean that the people who he brought out of Egypt 'stayed put' by the banks of the Jordan River.  The Book of Joshua immediately takes up the story of our nation upon the death of Moses…literally! It is the Haftorah of the last Parsha which we read on Simchat Torah.  It would be wrong to consider it a sequel to the Torah, but it does continue the narrative started in the last two books of our Divine gift.

 

A case in point can be found in this week's Parsha:

Deuteronomy 27: 1-5

Moses and the elders of Israel gave the following instructions to the people: Keep the entire mandate that I am prescribing to you today.  On the day that you cross the Jordan into the land that Gd your Lord is giving you, you must erect large stones and plaster them with lime.  When you then cross over, you shall write on them all of this Torah.  In this manner you shall come to the land that Gd your Lord is giving you, the land flowing with milk and honey that Gd, Lord of your fathers, promised you.  When you cross the Jordan, you shall set up these stones that I am now describing to you on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with lime. There, you shall then build an altar to Gd, your Lord.  It will be a stone altar and you shall not lift up any iron to it.

 

The Torah continues by listing the curses and blessings that would be shouted out by the Levites to the Tribes, six of whom were on Mount Ebal (the curses) and the other six on Mount Gerizim (the blessings) but there are different interpretations as to the exact manner in which this was carried out.

 

Sure enough, we read the following in the Book of Joshua:

Joshua 8: 30-32

Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, Gd of Israel, on Mount Ebal, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded the Children of Israel, as is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones upon which no man had lifted up any iron.  They offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and brought sacrificed peace offerings.  And he wrote there upon the stones, a copy of the law of Moses which he wrote in the presence of the Children of Israel

You may be surprised to know that it is possible that this altar still exists on the very site described in both the Parsha and the Book of Joshua!

 The late Israeli archaeologist Adam Zertal (who died in 2015) and his team excavated a number of sites in the Mount Ebal area of Israel in the early 1980s.  They unearthed a number of 'foot-shaped' structures known as 'Sandalim' and 'Gilgalim'.  This altar, which was built on the bedrock was divided into two strata, both dated to the first Iron Age.  They found the remains of charred animal bones inside the depression in the middle of the structure.  The monumental alter, which was traced to a later level measured 23 by 30 feet and was 10 foot tall with a 23-foot-long ramp leading up to it.  The altar contained a large number of burnt bones and pottery, again dating back to the first Iron Age.

 Zertal claimed that the altar was cultish in nature and controversially added that it was indeed Joshua's edifice as described above.  There was a great deal of opposition to this view amongst his peers and the debate still rages as to its exact status.  There does seem to be general agreement that this was an early Israelite cultish site and the jury is still out on whether it was indeed Joshua's altar.

In February of this year, the Palestinian Authority destroyed part of the outer wall to use the stones as gravel for a road they were building below the structure.  This brings to mind the desecration of historical Jewish sites, such as the Temple Mount in order to change and amend the narrative linking Jewish presence in the Land of Israel over three millennia.  One does not need to look too far back to find people trying to deny our legitimacy, both in recent or ancient history, as witnessed by the recent and worrying growth in Holocaust denial.  As King Solomon famously wrote in Kohelet/Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun."

Last week, a friend invited me to join him on a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum.  He is a member and had obtained a ticket for the current ‘Epic Iran’ exhibition and very kindly invited me to come along as his guest.

I have a particular interest in this topic as I was fortune enough to visit the Shah’s Iran as a child and have always held a deep and abiding interest in the country and its history.  It also doesn't hurt that the Book of Esther is one of my favourite Biblical texts.

The exhibition, which is open until 12th September, is promoted on the museum's website using the following text:

‘Exploring 5,000 years of art, design and culture, Epic Iran shines a light on one of the greatest historic civilisations, its journey into the 21st century and its monumental artistic achievements, which remain unknown to many.’

Most of the exhibits are on loan from a private collector as well as from institutions such as the Ashmolean in Oxford and the British Museum.  It is well worth visiting and we both enjoyed our time there.

That is, except for one glaring omission - the complete absence of the 'J' word.

Walking around the various exhibits, you would be forgiven for wondering if there had ever been a Jewish presence in the country that is now called Iran. 

That there was a significant and influential Jewish community dating back to the Babylonian exile was completely excised from the narrative. 

Not a single reference.

When displaying maps of the countries which encompassed the Archemid Empire (as per the Book of Esther), Judea was notably absent.  It was as though we had never set foot in the country despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, not least the presence of ancient shrines, such as the tombs of Mordechai and Esther and numerous synagogues.

It was obvious from placards detailing the country's recent history (from the early 20th Century) that the curators had a particular message to share with visitors and there could have been an element of fear involved in their decision to preclude our people from their depiction of history.  Perhaps, one day, when the country hopefully returns to its former glory, the title of the exhibition will truly reflect its content.

'Epic Iran' is sadly a misnomer when the Persian Empire which prided itself on its inclusiveness is so woefully represented in the heart of London.

The Parsha of Ki Tavo contains the Tochacha - the warning to our people about what would happen should they choose to take a different path to that detailed in the Torah.  History has demonstrated that this was not an idle threat but a very real portent of what was to come.  That we now have a Jewish State to return to, where Joshua's altar may or may not be situated is a testament to our survival against so many foes.  In a similar vein, whether or not an exhibition on Iran misrepresents its history by ignoring us does not change the facts on the ground.

Returning to my original theme, when the Rabbis canonised the Bible and chose the return to Zion and rebuilding of the Temple as a cut-off point, I suspect that they knew the story of the Jewish people would be ongoing.  This, despite the sometimes dire consequences brought on by the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.

For that is what we do.  Beyond cultish altars and Persian Cylinders, we survive and flourish, because sticks and stones have broken some of our bones but the many names our foes have chosen to call us (or even worse, ignore us) - don't really hurt us.

 

Am Yisrael Chai and Shabbat Shalom.

 

Parshat Ki Tetzei: A Letter to the Commander in Chief

President Joseph R.  Biden The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave Washington, DC 20500 United States of America

18th August 2021 10th Ellul 5781

Dear Mr President,

I, along with millions of others watched your address to the American people regarding the withdrawing of troops from Afghanistan.  It is not my place to judge you or to assess the rationale that you cited for making your decision.  You are the most powerful human being on this planet and as you said, "The buck stops with me."

I was, however, struck by the timing of your actions and the week in which you chose to reveal your policy, in conjunction with the reading of this week's Parsha of Ki Tetzei in a few days' time.  As a person of deep faith, I do not believe in coincidences and would like to share with you some ideas that I have considered in relation to both your decision and the myriad of laws that encompass our Torah reading.

Ki Tetzei contains the largest number of mitzvot in the entire Torah, seventy-four in all.  Of these, twenty-seven are Positive Commandments (you shall do such and such) whilst forty-seven are prohibitions. 

On a superficial level, it appears that many of these Mitzvot/Commandments have been grouped together in a random fashion, but I believe that there is a common theme that can link all of them and this focus is on the relationship between people, known as Mitzvot ben Adam le Chavero, as opposed to those commandments between humanity and Gd, namely Mitzvot bein Adam LeMakom.

Mr President, The Book of Deuteronomy comprises the three speeches that Moses gave to the Israelites in the last week of his life by the banks of the Jordan River.  We are currently reading from the second oration.

Rabbi Menachem Leibtag of the OU highlights a fascinating idea that places these mitzvot in the context of how they follow on from those that we read about in the last few Torah portions/sidrot.  Additionally, he also posits the idea that all the mitzvot described in chapters 6-26 are analogous to the 10 Commandments.

Moses reminds the people that the mitzvot were originally transmitted to them at Mount Sinai and why they heard them from him (Moses) and not directly from Gd in Chapter 5.  Chapters 6 through to 11 describe the mitzvot that concern man's relationship to Gd, via the concept of Ahavat Hashem - loving Gd and demonstrating this through observing the first five commandments, with particular reference to not worshipping other gods.  This second oration begins with a repetition of the Ten Commandments, shortly followed by the first paragraph of the twice daily recited 'Shema' prayer and ends shortly after the inclusion of the second paragraph of the same prayer.

The section that we are currently reading contains numerous commandments that we refer to as 'Chukim and Mishpatim', namely Statutes and Judgements that pertain to establishing the Jewish people as an 'Am Kadosh' - a holy nation, replete with its institutions and laws relating to living a daily life in the Land of Israel.  Many of the laws contained in this section are not given a rationale, such as those pertaining to Kashrut, our dietary laws and Shatnez (mixing wool and linen in garments) which we read about this week.  Last week, we focused on leadership, ensuring that a just society is led by an impartial judiciary whilst simultaneously establishing a Jewish monarchy that acts as a model of how its protagonists should behave vis-a-vis Gd and the people they are chosen to represent and lead.

Rabbi Leibtag provides a fascinating parallel between the Ten Commandments and the mitzvot described in this second speech.

He equates Chapters 6 to 18 with the first five commandments and links the many mitzvot described therein within the context of the relationship between man and Gd. However, I will be focussing on the other laws as it is within these latter commandments that we find ourselves this week and this comprises of Chapters 19 to 25 (the second discourse ends with Chapter 26 which we will recite next week).

Mr President, as I explained above, this week's portion contains seventy-four commandments focussing on the relationships between human beings and includes topics ranging from the treatment of female captives and returning lost articles; respecting animals (chasing a mother bird away from a nest before taking her eggs and not ploughing a field with a yoked ox and donkey); creating a moral society (protecting rape victims, punishing adulterers, limiting prostitution); ensuring fairness for workers by paying them on time and promoting honesty through shopkeepers not being allowed to keep different weights in their pockets as a means of cheating customers and many, many more. 

It might be assumed that there is no connection between any of the above commandments, but this is far from the case.  Indeed, what brings them together is the imperative to promote a harmonious and just society that values not only itself but also others.  These are not commandments that are applicable solely to Jews, although we are tasked to keep them and in doing so, reflect Gd's light through the Torah on the rest of the world.  They are the bedrock on which all society should operate, irrespective of whether they are instructed to do so by their faith.  The Torah is not applicable to American Jews any more than it is relevant to those who come from Australia or even the sole remaining member of our people who currently lives in Afghanistan.

Mr President, in relation to your speech, you might wish to look at the two sets of laws which bookend Ki Tetzei, namely the commandments that focus on how a female captive should be treated (at the start of the portion) and Gd's requirement that we attack and destroy the murderous nation of Amalek at its end.  Both sections deal with war

Deuteronomy 21:

(10) When you will go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your Gd will deliver them into your hand and you take some of them captive, (11) and you see among the captives a beautiful woman and you desire her and would take her to wife, (12) you shall bring her into your house, and she shall trim her hair, pare her nails, (13) and discard her captive’s garb.  She shall spend a month’s time in your house lamenting her father and mother; after that you may come to her and live with her, and she shall be your wife.  (14) Then, should you no longer desire her, you must release her outright.  You must not sell her for money: since you had your will of her, you must not enslave her.

Mr President, I have long considered the first four verses of this week's Parsha to be amongst the most heart-breaking narratives in the Torah.  They also provide a precise, razor-sharp understanding of human nature in all its manifest incarnations.

A soldier has been granted the spoils of his victory over the enemy.  You can just imagine him walking arrogantly amongst the people he has just vanquished; drunk on the power he has recently utilised to subjugate his foe.  He spies a pretty girl amongst the captives and realises that, due to his lofty stature, he may do with her as he wishes.  She is after all, vulnerable and defenceless and unable to withstand his might.  His instinct will be to take her for himself and do as he pleases as this is the right of the victor, is it not?

Which is when the Torah drops the bombshell (excuse the pun) and sharply brings into focus the other side of the coin, namely the impact of the war, not on the winners, but those who were impacted by the victory - the scared and scarred victims of war.

Before the soldier can fulfil his lustful urges, he must recognise that his captive is human too.  She has witnessed the brutal deaths of her loved ones, possibly by the hand of the man in whose house she is now living, presumably against her will.  She needs time to mourn the loss of her parents whilst at the same time, making herself as unattractive as she can to her captor for a month of days, which will be enough time for him to also cool his passion and sense of superiority over her.  The tables have turned for now she has the power to control him.

Then, after a month, when he sees her in a different light, beyond her initial external attractiveness, they may consummate their union and begin a life together as equal partners who respect one another.  If this marriage does not succeed, she is free to go and he has no right to exercise his previous control over her through selling her as a slave.

Mr President, can you honestly promise the world that the Taliban, who have a history of indescribable brutality towards their fellow citizens and in particular, their inhumane and misogynistic treatment of Afghani women, will enforce this law amongst their millions of troops who are armed to the teeth?

Will you be willing to send more troops to protect your fellow human beings, even if the victims are not American?

Will you abide by the Torah's commandment to ensure that justice for orphans and widows is not perverted, as per Chapter 24, Verse 17?

Will you follow Gd's command to remember what the Amalakites did? A nation who attacked not the soldiers at the front, but the women and children at the rear of the nation?

Will you send your forces to defeat their descendants who claim that they 'fear Gd' but this is not a Divine Being that any of us recognise as Allah?

As our portion concludes, we are reminded 'not to forget'.

Mr President, we will soon be remembering the victims of 9/11 along with the soldiers who lost their lives trying to protect the innocents in Afghanistan over the last twenty years. 

When you have removed your protective shield over the troubled country that lies to the east of the United States, what and who will you be remembering?

Yours faithfully.

Rabbi Claude Vecht-Wolf

Shabbat Shalom

Parshat Shoftim: The Torah's Fruit Trees

 

 

בס"ד

I really don't know where the time has gone.

Three years ago, on 7th Ellul (corresponding with 18th August), Stephnie and I spent our first Shabbat in this wonderful community of Staines.  My trial had begun the previous evening and now, here I was, about to recite this week's parsha of Shoftim before you.  I must have done something right because three years later, I'm still here...and when Shabbat leaves, the 7th Ellul will be upon us again.  Shoftim therefore has a very special place in my heart.

And so does the number three.

In our religion, as you are aware, certain numbers have greater significance than others.  When I mention the number three, a few examples come to mind: the three prayers that we recite daily; the shalosh regalim, three ‘Foot Festivals’; the shalosh avot, the three Patriarchs and most importantly the idea that in every human conception there are three partners, the two parents and Gd.

On the third day, Gd brought forth grass, seeds and trees that would subsequently bear fruit.  And Gd saw that it was good, not once, but twice.  This is the only example in the Creative Narrative which occasioned such a mention, hence the tradition that some couples refer to, to get married on Tuesdays, the third day of the week (as Stephnie and I did).

In the third chapter of the Torah, we read about the sin of the first couple and their partaking of the forbidden fruit, which was most definitely not an apple.  It is on the emphasis the Torah places on fruit trees that I will now focus, citing three examples of how these Heavenly sent gifts refer to the way we should behave towards one another and the global environment in which we live.

Gd's very first interaction with humankind was thus:

Genesis 2

(16) “And the Lord Gd commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you are free to eat; (17) but as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it; for as soon as you eat of it, you shall surely die.”

The Torah expresses Gd's instruction to man regarding the food he is allowed to consume in order to survive whilst at the same time, making him aware of what he cannot take for himself.  Of all the potential sources of nourishment available, the first to be mentioned is the fruit emanating from trees.  Not any vegetable or type of meat but fruit, which receives special status in the Torah.  Adam and Eve were punished for not listening to Gd’s command resulting in the world’s turbulent history that leads us the present day.  It was a poor choice indeed. 

My second example refers to a commandment given many years later to the Israelites in the desert regarding the law of Orlah which means benefitting from the fruit of a tree that is less than three years old (and which ties in with our emphasis on the same number)

Leviticus 19:

(23) “When you enter the land and plant any tree for food, you shall regard its fruit as forbidden.  Three years it shall be forbidden for you, not to be eaten.  (24) In the fourth year all its fruit shall be set aside for jubilation before the Lord; (25) and only in the fifth year may you use its fruit—that its yield to you may be increased: I the Lord am your Gd.”

Once again the Torah cites the rules regarding how we may benefit from the fruit borne by trees on condition that we allow them to grow for a period of no less than three years before being able to tithe them in the fourth and partake of them in the fifth.  Incidentally, this is the origin of the recent custom (17th century) of upsherin, where a boy's hair is only cut upon their third birthday.  The basis for the custom is the notion that humans are compared to trees and that, just like a tree needs to be given time to grow, so the same with a child who will start having an understanding of the world at a young age (although most agree that learning Torah begins at five) will grow into a Torah scholar who will share his knowledge (as a metaphor for fruit) with others as he develops his intellectual powers.

On a practical level, there are also disagreements as to how long one needs to wait into the fourth year, both inside and outside of Israel, before being allowed to eat the fruit, due to its sacred status.

My third and final example can be found in this week's Parsha, when Moshe instructs the people regarding the rules of warfare:

Deuteronomy 20:

(19) “When in your war against a city you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees, wielding the axe against them.  You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down.  Are trees of the field human to withdraw before you into the besieged city? (20) Only trees that you know do not yield food may be destroyed; you may cut them down for constructing siegeworks against the city that is waging war on you, until it has been reduced.”

Rashi provides a moving comment on the question in Pasuk 20:

“Is the tree of the field perhaps a man who is able to withdraw within the besieged city from before you, that it should be chastised by the suffering of famine and thirst like the inhabitants of the city? Why should you destroy it?”

and in doing so, underscores the indisputable link between humankind and the food provided by Gd.  We may unfortunately have a need to go to war and as a result, interact with our fellow human beings, in a state of extreme hostility and unbridled brutality.  That, however, does not give us carte blanche to extend our aggression to nature.  For, unlike fellow humans, nature does not wage war against us.  It does not besiege our cities and wish to conquer us.  It works for us as long as we respect its status and power. Additionally, we also learn the laws of Ba’al Taschit – not wasting food, from this example.

In the three examples I have cited, our contract with Gd is that He will continue to provide the fruit that maintains our health on the condition that we respect His gift.  It doesn't take a great leap of the imagination to link this to how our mismanagement of His gifts to us, on this planet, is a significant part of the reason why we are facing the current climate emergency.  A cursory reading of the latest IPCC assessment forecasts the surpassing of a 1.5c global warming limit within the next twenty years unless our leaders, in fact everybody, act imminently.  This is a stark warning of how we are abrogating this aforementioned contract.  We do so at our peril.

In the three years that I have spent with you, I feel that we have grown our own 'fruit'.  Thank you for allowing me to share my love of the Torah with you and explore its many facets together.

I came to you as a young seedling and together we have blossomed and borne fruit.  May our joint farming efforts continue for many years to come and may the many fruits of our labour inspire us to reach new heights.

The wells of Torah are as deep as the core of the earth. May we be blessed to continue to drink from them for as long as Gd enables us to eat of his fruit, both physically and metaphorically.

Shabbat Shalom.